Feb. 5 & 6: Craig Pomranz

Craig Pomranz

February 5 & 6

Tom Rolla’s Gardenia
7066 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA
323.467.7444

Here’s Ron Forman’s review of Craig’s recent NYC show:

Café Noctambulo’s intimate romantic setting is a wonderful venue for Craig Pomranz’s very personal style of performing. The excellent food is served quietly, so as not to disturb the performance. Pomranz’s shows always feature a meticulously selected song list based on a particular theme. Love Takes Time featured 18 quite diverse songs by writers ranging from Albert Von Tilzer and Irving Berlin to Cyndi Lauper and Stevie Wonder, all on the subject of time. This diversity allowed Pomranz to show off his many different voices, ranging from falsetto to a bold, masculine sound. The always-affable singer frequently intersperses amusing and often very comical comments between numbers.

Pomranz opened using his falsetto on Lauper and Rob Hyman’s “Time After Time.” He later performed the Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen song with the same title, which included the seldom-heard verse. He beautifully blended the lovely “Dinner at Eight” with “About a Quarter to Nine.” The medley of “Ten Minutes Ago” and “My Cutie’s Due At Two-to-Two Today” ended with him showing off his belting chops. “Ten Good Years,” usually performed by a female, was especially amusing and still relevant with Pomranz’s updated lyrics. He was able to shift gears and movingly perform a poignant medley of “Time Heals Everything” and Stephen Sondheim’s “Loving You,” which concluded by returning to the Jerry Herman song for a big finish. Pomranz closed with a flourish by again using his strong voice for “As Time Goes By.” The two encores were “I’ll Remember April” and a heartfelt “Too Shy to Say.”

Tags: About a Quarter to Nine, Albert Von Tilzer, American Songbook, As Time Goes By, Broadway Musicals, Cabaret, Cabaret Reviews, Cabaret Scenes, Café Noctambulo, Clubs, Composers, Craig Pomranz, Cyndi Lauper, Dinner at Eight, Great American Songbook, I’ll Remember April, Irving Berlin, Jazz, Jerry Herman, Jimmy Van Heusen, Los Angeles, Love Takes Time, Loving You, lyricists, Musicals, My Cutie’s Due At Two-to-Two Today, Nightclubs, NYC, Popular Song, Revues, Richard Termine, Rob Hyman, Ron Forman, Sammy Cahn, Show Tunes, Singers, Songbook, Standards, Stephen Sondheim, Stevie Wonder, Supper Clubs, Ten Good Years, Ten Minutes Ago, The New York Times, TheGardenis, Time After Time, Time Heals Everything, Tom Rolla’s Gardenia, Too Shy to Say, Venues, Vocalists

Category: Los Angeles, Los Angeles Pick of the Week, Pick of the Week, Regional